YWCA going for really big money

The YWCA Clark County is discontinuing its annual benefit auction in 2008 to join one of the biggest charitable moneymakers in the region, the Classis Wines Auction, which last year brought in over $2.8 million for four participating Oregon charities, YWCA executive director Kathy Kniep announced today.

Kniep says: “The Classic Wines Auction is a phenomenal event in every way. With our local community’s increased participation in the auction and the Winemaker Dinners, we’ll be able to generate sustaining revenues for our programs, which means consistent support for victims of abuse in Clark County.”

Vancouver’s Linda Hickey is co-chair of the 2008 auction. Hickey is a former co-chair of Classic Wines Auction and former president of the YWCA board of directors and past chair of the YWCA Auction. Other co-chairs are Dan Agnew and Mark Miller.

Beginning from a small group of friends exchanging wine from personal collections to raise funds for Portland’s Metropolitan Family Service, the Classic Wines Auction has evolved into one of the top ten charity wine auctions in the United States, according to Wine Spectator magazine.

In addition to the local YWCA and Portland Metropolitan Family Service, the auction will help support efforts by New Avenues for Youth, Friends of Children and Trillium Family Services. All these organizations are dedicated to helping children and families.

For further information on Classic Wine Auctions, call Kathy Deschner, 696-0167.

Clark County pantries may have
tainted Castelberry canned goods

Clark County residents are urged to check their cupboards for possible botulism-tainted Castelberry canned products known to have been sold through 22 stores in the county, reports Clark County Public Health spokesperson Gary Beckett. Botulism can be fatal, according to Beckett.

The questioned canned goods are 15 ounce cans of the following: Cattle Drive Chili, Castelberry’s Corned Beef Hash and Castleberry’s Beef Stew.

The products should be double bagged and disposed of in non recyclable trash. For further information, call 397-8160.

Port of Vancouver breaking
ground on rail relief project

The biggest rail project ever undertaken by the Port of Vancouver, the $60-$70 million West Vancouver Freight Access Project will relieve about half the current north, south and east rail congestion through Vancouver and will open both fast rail access to the new Columbia Gate Way industrial site and improved rail access for existing port industrial tenants.

The project financing is dependent on a number of sources, including federal and state dollars, port revenues and an industrial development levy that is on the ballot in August.

The six-year levy would raise an estimated $78 million. Abut half of that would be used for rail development and the other half for acquisition of the former Alcoa smelter on the Columbia River.

The levy would increase port district taxes from 33 cents to 79 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation. According to port officials, the tax increase on a $250,000 home would be about $9 a month over the six-year levy period.

Groundbreaking for the rail project is at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7, just west of the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay on the Vancouver waterfront. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) will be the keynote speaker.

Skills Center students finish
high in national competition

Six Clark County Skills Center students finished with high marks in national competition in Kansas City this week.

Competing among 14,000 students Leonid Voronko, Summit View High School senior, won 12th place in architectural drafting. Zachary Johnson, Hockinson High School junior, finished in 15th place in related technical math. Michael Anderson, Heritage High School senior, placed 25th in carpentry.

The Clark County Skills Center pre-engineering team placed 16 in the national competition in automated manufacturing technology. They are seniors Aleksandr Mikutin, Hockinson High School, Anthony Madamba, Mountain View High School, and Vyacheslav Sakhno, Battle Ground High School.

The Clark County Skills Center, owned by ten southwest Washington school districts, provides technical and professional training programs that prepare high school and college students for the workforce.

Dinner inside Fort Vancouver stockade
commemorates 60 years of archaeology

Members of the Vancouver National Historic Reserve Trust Society will commemorate 60 years of archaeology at Fort Vancouver during their annual society membership buffet dinner inside the Fort Vancouver stockade.

The National Park Service’s Louis Caywood began excavations at Fort Vancouver in 1947, one year prior to the fort’s being included in the National Park System as a National Monument.

Caywood’s research led to the confirmation of locations of Hudson’s Bay Company buildings and the fort wall. Archaeological digging continues to this day.

The dinner is Friday, Aug. 10. Cocktails are at 6:30 p.m., dinner, 7:15 p.m., and a program begins at 8 p.m. For further information on the dinner, call 992-1800.

Calendar

A Tuscany wine-tasting benefiting the Altrusa of Clark County Foundation is at 5 to 8 p.m. this evening in Salut! Wine Co., 16020 SE Mill Plain Boulevard. Admission is $25. For further information, call 335-0988. <> The Coats, a four-person a cappella band, headlines the Riverview Community Bank’s Six-to-Sunset concert series performance in Esther Short Park this evening. Food and non-alcoholic beverage vendors are in attendance. Picnic blankets and low-back chairs are recommended.

Headlines Thursday, July 26

Ridgefielder question's city council candidate Randy Mueller's residency; Mueller says he has fulfilled residency requirement--Columbian, Jose Paul Corona

Botched diagnosis nets large verdict--Columbian, Stephanie Rice

St. Helens National Park?--Columbian, Erik Robinson

Dow plunges (down 310 down) on credit market fears--Washington Post, Frank Ahrens

Fidel Castro absent at meeting; brother Raul announces he will seek to open Cuba to more foreign investment--Washington Post, Manuel Roig-Franzia

Baghdad bomb kills 25--USA TODAY, AP

U.S. says 60 Taliban killed in clashes with troops--USA TODAY, AP

Iraq Coalition Casualties